Archive for the ‘Church’ Category

Bolz-Weber is a great story teller, and as luck would have it grew up in a very conservative denomination very similar to the one I grew up in. She is reaching out to people who have been hurt by a church, letting them know, they are loved by God, and that the people who misled, are simply mistaken people.

I enjoyed, and since less Greek grammar and more Byzantine politics, I pro’lly enjoyed more than Junia. LOL.

Lemme sum up… any errors in summing up, are my fault, sorry.

Jesus had followers, but since they thought he would return quickly, didn’t really write much down right away.

At this time, Greek philosophy demanded accuracy of who wrote what, and was the teacher’s teaching being faithfully taught.

There were many Christian scriptures floating around.

There was not a list of all of the New Testament books until ~300 years AFTER Jesus. (I think I heard on a podcast, “The Table of Contents of your Bible, is not scripture.)

Eusebius ~325 list the books that were “acknowledged as genuine by all”,

the Four Gospels

Acts of the Apostles

13 Epistles of Paul

I John

I Peter

Revelation of John “if properly interpreted”

Eusebius lists the following as “disputed – though approved by many”

James

Jude

2 & 3 John

2 Peter

Hebrews

Constantine becomes Roman Emperor 312 – with the help of Christian God in a vision… and soon Christianity is the state sponsored religion, and Constantine assembles council to decide what it means to be Christian, and soon after there are less “other” Christian texts.

In Roman’s 16, the Apostle Paul writes regarding Junia. Epp shows, through language study, grammar, other literature of the time that

There was a woman, named Junia

There is no evidence of Junia being used for a male during that time

there is plenty of evidence of Junia being used for female during that time

That she was an Apostle, not a term St Paul used lightly

She was a prominent Apostle

Never noticed this throw-away verse back when I was a kid, raised in a conservative “women should be silent in church” denomination. And, to be honest, wouldn’t have noticed it had I read the verse a few weeks ago.

Epp also points out that for first centuries of the Church theologians recognized Junia as female. But recently, some have said “Junia can’t be female, because Junia was an Apostle” or have said “Junia was a recognized HELPER of the Apostles”.

What to believe? … well, I don’t read New Testament Greek, so I may have to trust Professor Epp.

Drove to and fro Spokane this weekend. Mostly, MyBetterHalf drives, and thus has her phone to provide music. I drove the small car (MyBetterHalf left earlier with MrG and MsS) with MrC there, and drove solo back. The solo drive, is actually the first time I have driven across the state by myself. It was nice. I controlled the radio. I controlled the rest stops (staring at the Columbia before Vantage, two fruit stands, the Historic Thorp Mill, Blue Heron Park at Moses Lake) . A little R&R!!

speaking of radio, in the middle of the state. On the plus side, there weren’t too many commercials or dumb DJs trying to be funny. On the other hand, there was preaching, there was country music, there was Spanish radio, there was Spanish-preaching…. I heard a nice bit of a sermon, twice. Female pastor, “I was in the store with my young children and someone asked “are they all yours” and I thought “Who brings extra toddlers to the store??!!??” Her sermon was about when we choose entertainment, we are choosing not something else, uh…more time spent with kids. (Also, these days, everyone has their own entertainment, and don’t have a common time together – ESPN can vouch for that!) Heard a sermon about Jonah: God still had a plan for Jonah, a plan delayed is not a plan denied. And talent isn’t most important, obedience is. Heard a Catholic apologist (weird, I thought only protestants did that), his interpretation of baptism of children – Baptism is the new circumcision and faith by one can bring gifts to another (ex: Centurian’s daughter healed). Heard some NPR… segment about disabilities, and how a hundred years ago, many of us with bad vision would be disabled.

…but Song-of-the-Now goes to one that i’ve known for a bit, and I liked, but it got upgraded to Song-of-the-Now because MrCuddles was enthusiastically and loudly singing the chorus: Alice Merton “No Roots”

…so…I admit, I’m terrible, but just wondering … should a summary of Ezekiel 4

“My bad. You can use cow manure instead”

“I would do anything for God. But I won’t do that.”

Also, another funny of the chapter, there’s a hippy bread company, that sells bread based on “wheat, barley, beans, small peas, and millet seeds” like it’s a good thing. And, it’s kinda a punishment food, if I’m reading the scripture correctly.

Preacher mentioned Calvin, and how God initiated the process with each of us… (forgot the verse on that)… anywho…

I miss Pastor S, she would take a section, and just study it (maps, background, history), instead of trying to make a point by jumping all over the place find a scripture here and there. (And now I feel a bit guilty for making fun of her by saying “soon she’ll do a quick eight week study of Jude”.)

MrCuddles demonstrated his kung-fu and broke a board with a kick for me

MrGrunty and I played catch while talking about if Mr Westbrook would get the tripple-double record for the season (he did!!!)

MsSqueaky and I went shopping for her very own pocket knife. The BoyScouts issue all third graders a knife, GirlScouts…knives aren’t priority. Took her to sporting goods store. The big and scary looking / military style / hunting style she didn’t want. She ended up with a small SwissArmy knife. The guy at the store was very kind, “take your time, not every knife is for every person, get one that is right for you.”

the evening of Thursday, April 6th… me and the childrens spent a bit of time drawing together at the dinner table.

the morning of Tuesday, April 11th

MsSqueaky first words in the morning “Papa are you feeling better? Is your headache gone?” (Previous night I fell asleep way early with a bad headache.)

MrGrunty was first one awake, and was reading. He seems to have found a good book, and is doing more reading without us asking him to. Then when he saw me, his first words were “can I give Sophie a treat?” Awww…he’s getting more familiar and liking our pets more. Why I remember, when he was a toddler, and Sophie was AFRAID of kids (MsS would grab for her) Sophie-kitty and MrG surprised each other in the hallway, and had a little stand off, neither sure how to react. Sophie then got brave and advanced. MrG fell on his butt. Sophie sauntered past, sashaying her big fluffy tail.

MrCuddles was asking what college he would need to go to to be a “fire fighter, police officer and construction worker.” I encouraged him to start with an EMT training.

Morning of Wednesday, April 12th, on ride to school MrG asked who was going to be in the family book club. We all said “yes” and he was happy that we would participate. I pointed out that we had already read a book as a family, “Ivan” and “HarryPotter” the fourth graders said. “And ‘Goodnight Moon’, I added. They laughed.

<sadness warning>

Wednesday evening, fears from a ominous & vague post on TheFacebook confirmed, an ex-co-worker had committed suicide. We worked together in the kitchen for a few years, he was surly, and loyal to his friends, loved to shock people with his jokes, loved the SuperSonics and heavy metal. I hope and pray, that after “Guido” insulted St. Peter for an hour, then told St. Peter a bunch of offensive jokes for an hour, that Guido was allowed into heaven, so he could finally play with his daughter who was born asleep less than a year ago. I still don’t know what to say. We weren’t close, even back when we worked together. I’m more sad than I would have thought. Sometimes demons win and humans lose. Sometimes it’s not fair. And it’s scary, I have had a pretty good life, how would I react to depression, death of a child, war, debilitating disease, death of a loved one… I dunno. Sometimes people do stupid things. Rest in peace, Guido.

When “turn the other cheek”, back then, you would backhand a social inferior as a rebuke. When turning the other cheek, you are telling them, we are equals, if you want to hit me, hit me with your fist. I demand the same respect as you.

When “give them your second cloak” in Roman society, nudity was a shame for those that saw it, not for the naked.

She sent me a draft, and of course I gave my opinions, because I’m an argumentative brat.

Anywho…wonderful things from her sermon that I hadn’t thought of:

I should be more like Mary… “do this” and then walk away, let them protest, but totally expect to have the task done.

I liked the servants fighting over who has to take the wash water to the wine steward to taste, the way she presented it, (did they draw straws? send the new guy?) was humorous.

The little things matter. She wrote: “Christ is right there inside the small, unimportant, easy to miss affirmation of life.” Letting some poor schmuck have a nice wedding. That matters. (Not sure I even thought of that before. Jesus likes quality wine.) Yeah, Jesus wanted somebody to have a nice party. How cool is that? Take a break, celebrate with friends and family. Take a moment to enjoy the normal parts of a normal life. The wedding at Cana is about helping someone have a nice wedding. Saving someone from embarrassment.